1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates generally to a system for the inscription and secure recordation of information, and a method of inscribing and securely recording information by means of the aforementioned system. The invention relates more specifically to a system which not only facilitates the inscription of an adhesive label, but which ensures that the inscription is recorded in a secure manner.
2. Description of Related Art
Conventional devices for recording an inscription by mechanical transfer are known. Such devices, however, do not necessarily ensure the security of the inscription. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 1,104,310 discloses a xe2x80x9ccollection-draft sheetxe2x80x9d having three pages: an original page, a xe2x80x9cprivacy page,xe2x80x9d and a log page. The privacy page, which serves to transfer the entry on the original sheet to the log page, is a sheet of carbon paper. The carbon sheet, however, is not an integral part of the collection-draft sheet. While the original and log pages are bound in a book, it is necessary to insert a separate carbon sheet between the original and log pages each time that an entry is to be made. Because it is a separate, inserted, sheet, the carbon sheet does not ensure the security of the inscription transferred to the log page.
Devices are also known for providing adhesive labels or cards. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 5,630,627 describes a business form which includes a removable laminate card produced by adhering a transparent piece of plastic and a layer of backing material to the imprinted back of the form and by die cutting completely through the form and transparent piece of plastic to form a card laminate which is peelable from the layer of backing material and from the business form. Similarly, U.S. Pat. No. 5,637,369 describes a business form which includes a card produced by adhering conventional label stock to the back of the form, by die cutting completely through the form and partially through the label stock to produce a laminate which can be peeled from the business form, and by peeling the laminate from the business form and folding the laminate to form the card. While such devices provide for removable labels or cards, they have no inscription security feature.
None of the aforementioned conventional devices, therefore, provides a system which not only facilitates the inscription of an adhesive label, but ensures that the inscription is recorded in a secure manner, thus satisfying a long-felt need in this environment.
It is an object of the present invention to provide a system for the inscription and secure recordation of information, and a method of inscribing and securely recording information by means of the aforementioned system. It is a further object to provide a system which not only facilitates the inscription of an adhesive label, such as might be used as a name badge, but which ensures that the inscription is recorded in a secure manner.
Accordingly, in a first preferred embodiment the present invention advantageously relates to a system comprising (a) an inscription page for receiving an inscription, the inscription page comprising (i) a front side and a back side, the back side having an adhesive coating thereon, and (ii) a plurality of detachable inscription sections; (b) a carbonless privacy page, the privacy page comprising (i) a privacy section and (ii) at least first and second opposed privacy attaching sections; and (c) a carbonless recordation page for recording the inscription, the recordation page comprising (i) a recordation section and (ii) at least first and second opposed recordation attaching sections. The inscription page is removably attached by the adhesive coating to the privacy section, and the at least first and second opposed privacy attaching sections, and the at least first and second opposed privacy attaching sections, are removably attached to a corresponding one of the at least first and second opposed recordation attaching sections.
The invention further relates to a method of using the aforementioned system. The method comprises the steps of (a) inscribing one or a plurality of the detachable inscription sections; (b) detaching the one or a plurality of inscribed detachable inscription sections; and (c) detaching the recordation section from first recordation attaching section and from the second recordation attaching section so as to provide a record of each inscription.
As an example of the method of inscribing and securely recording information by means of the aforementioned system, a visitor would make an inscription in one of the detachable inscription sections on the inscription page. Each badge is defined by incisions so as to facilitate its removal by peeling. By virtue of the adhesive coating, the badge can then be attached to another surface, such as, for example, to the apparel of the visitor. By the application of mechanical pressure (i.e., as a result of making the inscription), the inscription is transferred from the inscription page through the carbonless privacy page to the carbonless recordation page.
Because the privacy page and the recordation page are removably attached to one another, the presence of the privacy page ensures that the inscriptions which have been transferred to the recordation page remain unseen by a visitor making a subsequent inscription. That is, the privacy page ensures that the inscription on the recordation page is not visible to subsequent inscriber through the open space which remains in the inscription page once a badge has been removed. Absent the destruction of the removable attachments formed by the privacy attaching sections and the recordation attaching sections, any unauthorized reader is denied the knowledge of the entries on the recordation page. Once the supply of badges on the inscription page has been depleted (or before, if desirable), the recordation section can be detached from the first recordation attaching section and the second recordation attaching section so as to provide a record of each inscription.
The present invention, therefore, provides a system which by virtue of its design and construction advantageously allows entries which are inscribed on the inscription page to be replicated on the recordation page, yet to be screened from view by virtue of the presence of the privacy page. The system, therefore, not only facilitates the inscription of an adhesive label, such as might be used as a name badge, but ensures that the inscription is recorded in a secure manner.